There have been concerns that are on a rise after many cases surfaced of sleep disorders among children around the world. Now the health officials in Britain have issued an investigation to look into the matters. According to them the pandemic flu vaccine might be a reason for this, which was given when the H1N1 virus more commonly known as swine flu, erupted in 2009/10.

For finding out the link the Health Protection Agency (HPA) is not finding facts by looking into the history of children between the age group of 4 and 18 who have been diagnosed for narcolepsy at sleep centers in Britain in recent years. There are speculations that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) vaccine Pandemrix, which was given extensively in 2009/10 during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, might throw some light on this. But HPA has denied that there is any evidence that shows a link between influenza vaccines and narcolepsy.

But looking at the information about the time frame when children diagnosed with narcolepsy received these pandemic vaccines, HPA hopes to deduce how many were affected. HPA would put forwards its reports by the end of this year.

There have been studies in Finland which have highlighted the link between Pandemrix and narcolepsy. The authors of these studies found that cases of narcolepsy increased seventeen-folds in the year 2010, from 0.31 cases per 100,000 to 5.3 cases per 100,000. This is the same year Pandemrix was used.

According to the lead author, Partinen, ”We can't exclude the possibility that there are simultaneous environmental factors at work here, but we can say Pandemrix was one of the factors involved”. GSK however denied all claims stating that there is no concrete proof till date that point fingers at its vaccine.